Pineapple chunking apparatus

ABSTRACT

Cored and peeled pineapples, split or halved axially into half spheroids, are fed through segmenting, slicing and usually also recoring operations in the form of a column of end-to-end half spheroids lying flat face down on supporting means having a longitudinal guiding rib slidably engaged by the aligned longitudinal grooves formed by the initial coring operation. Positive feeding of the half spheroids to and through the slicing and recoring operations is provided by a scroll feeder near the head of the column having lateral engagement with the leading half spheroids which have been segmented except for a small amount of unsegmented material immediately adjacent to the core hole, prior to reaching the scroll. The advancing head of the column leaving the scroll is sliced transversely at intervals which provide partially segmented slices of the desired thickness. The advancing head of the column is then recored producing the desired chunks by severing the segments from the ring of material adjacent to the core hole which held the pieces together through the slicing operation.

United States Patent [1 1 McLane Mar. 26, 1974 PINEAPPLE CHUNKING APPARATUS Douglas R. McLane, Honolulu, Hawaii [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Hydril Company, Harris County,

Tex.

[22] Filed: Dec. 29, 1971 [21] Appl. N0.: 213,260

[52] US. Cl 99/553, 99/543, 99/545, 99/564 [51] Int. Cl..... A23n 3/12, A23n 3/14, A23n 15/00, A23p l/00, A47j 25/00 Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or FirmCameron, Kerkam, Sutton, Stowell & Stowell U 3 Mill ABSTRACT Cored and peeled pineapples, split or halved axially into half spheroids, are fed through segmenting, slicing and usually also recoring operations in the form of a column of end-to-end half spheroids lying flat face down on supporting means having a longitudinal guiding rib slidably engaged by the aligned longitudinal grooves formed by the initial coring operation. Positive feeding of the half spheroids to and through the slicing and recoring operations is provided by a scroll feeder near the head of the column having lateral engagement with the leading half spheroids which have been segmented except for a small amount of unsegmented material immediately adjacent to the core hole, prior to reaching the scroll. The advancing head of the column leaving the scroll is sliced transversely at intervals which provide partially segmented slices of the desired thickness. The advancing head of the column is then recored producing the desired chunks by severing the segments from the ring of material adjacent to the core hole which held the pieces together through the slicing operation.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures VARIABLE PMENTEB MR2 6 m4 SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTOR DOUGLAS R McLANE %/22 0mg 61%[101 Q1/1 00 ATTORNEYS PATENIEflmzs m4 SHEET 2 (IF 2 INVENTOR DOUGLAS R. McLANE %02 am, [uamfjuifo/z ATTORNEYS PINEAPPLE CHUNKING APPARATUS SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus for processing pineapples into pieces usually referred to as chunks or tidbits.

Heretofore annular or ringlike slices have been cut from cored and peeled pineapples which have been prepared for slicing by passing the fruit through the well-known Ginaca machine or its equivalent. The cored pineapple slices have been forced through cutting heads having radially arranged knives so as to segment the slices into the desired chunks or tidbits. The chunks produced by the cutting head have then been collected in bulk and eventually loaded into cans or other containers for sale or distribution. Farmer U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,678 of Apr. 19, 1966 discloses an embodiment of this general process in which the cutting head is located specifically at the end of the empty can itself, the desired segmentation taking place as the slices are forced through the cutting head into the empty can.

The present invention handles the pineapples in the form of half spheroids. In the well-known Ginaca machine, for example, each pineapple is cut into the form of a cylinder and cored so that slices cut transversely through the cylinder are all the same size. In the de Back U.S. Pat. No. 3,382,900 granted May 14, 1968, on the other hand, the fruits are contourpeeled to produce bodies having an outer surface of revolution that is tapered somewhat toward each end. Thus slices cut transversely to the longitudinal axis may vary somewhat in external diameter. Both the Ginaca fruit cylinder and the de Back contour-peeled fruit body are examples of spheroids" as that term is used in the present specification; that is, they both have surfaces of revolution approximating an ellipsoid of revolution.

lnitial coring of these fruit bodies may be complete, or in some cases it may be preferred to restrict the initial coring (or precoring) so as to preserve more of the core portion of the fruit in order to provide greater strength for subsequent handling. In the latter case, subsequent recoring is necessary for a high quality product. In any case, when such peeled and cored fruit bodies are halved on the center lines of the core holes, the result is a half spheroid" having a flat face with a longitudinally extending groove formed by the remaining half of the core hole.

According to the present invention, such half spheroids are placed face down on suitable supports along which they are moved end-to-end towards the segmenting and slicing operations (and also the recoring operation if required). The movement of this column of half spheroids is guided by means ofa ridge-like bead or rib extending longitudinally along the supporting means in the direction of movement of the column of half spheroids and slidably engaging the aligned grooves in the flat faces thereof. The half spheroids may be fed to the supporting means at a rate correlated with the speed of forward movement of the column so that initially there are small intervals between adjacent ends of half spheroids. Normally these small intervals are quickly closed to bring the ends of the half spheroids into abutment as explained hereinafter. Preferably the initial supporting means comprises a moving belt provided with the guide rib already mentioned, from which the column of half spheroids is transferred onto a fixed supporting table having a corresponding guide rib as it approaches the segmenting and slicing operations.

As the half spheroids are advanced on the supporting table, they are segmented by a plurality of disc knives positioned above the table and rotating about angularly disposed axes which lie in a common plane transverse to the table so that the knives rotate in planes which extend radially with respect to the half spheroids. The segmenting knives are so located that they do not cut entirely through the fruit to the core hole, but leave a small amount of unsegmented core material immediately adjacent the guide rib of the supporting table.

To insure positive feeding into the slicing operation, it is desirable to supplement the frictional feeding force of the moving belt by a suitable feeder having lateral engagement with at least the leading half spheroids sliding along the fixed supporting table. For example, a rotating scroll with a spiral cutting edge is mounted at one side of the head end of the column, the pitch and speed of revolution being adjusted to move the leading half spheroids positively to the slicing operation at the desired rate. It is also preferable for the feed rate maintained by the scroll to be just slightly less than the feed rate at which the moving belt travels so that in effect there is a slight retardation of the leading half spheroids which insures that the column will be closed up and continuity maintained.

At the end of the scroll feeder, the segmented advancing half spheroids are sliced at intervals correlated with the rate of advance so that slices of the desired thickness will be obtained. For this purpose the supporting table is interrupted to allow for passage of the slicing means employed, usually a rotating knife. The gap between the two sections of the supporting table should preferably be of less width than the thickness of a slice.

The slicer may be of any suitable type and may be operated by any desired means. Usually, it is preferred to employ a knife rotating about an axis at one side of the column of half spheroids and of sufiicient length that it slices completely through the leading half spheroid on each revolution. Rotation of the knife can be accomplished by any suitable driving means adjacent the scroll feeder. Preferably, it is driven at the same speed of rotation as the scroll itself and is arranged so that the downward sweep of the knife enters the pineapple in the cut made by the convolutions of the scroll itself.

Under circumstances where thinner slices are desired without changing the speed of rotation either of the scroll or of the knife, it may be desirable to employ a knife having two or more blades all rotating as a unit about the same axis. For example, a slicer having two knife blades apart and rotating with the scroll will cut slices only half as thick as would be obtained with a single blade, everything else remaining the same.

After passing the slicing knife, the half spheroids continue to advance as a continuous column of chunk-like segments, which tend to remain together in the form of half slices while supported on the table and guided by its rib.

If the pineapple is not completely cored initially, as in the case of contour-peeled fruit produced by the de Back machine already mentioned, then an additional recoring operation is necessary if a high quality product is desired. This can be accomplished simply by means of a tubular recorer having its axis aligned with the center line of the column of half spheroids and presenting a circular cutting edge to the leading slices as they emerge from the slicing means. The waste core material removed by this recoring devices passes through the recoring tube to a suitable discharge, while the remaining chunks outside the tube separate and fall by gravity into any desired collecting means.

The speed of the scroll feeder and belt should be such as to cause a linear advance of the column sufficient to handle the maximum amount of fruit for which the particular equipment is designed. As already explained, continuity of the column of half spheroids is desired for best operation of the segmenting and slicing means. However, this continuous column should not be too long because of the danger of buckling. In most cases it is therefore desirable to provide controls responsive to the presence of fruit on the belt and support which on the one hand will shut down the scroll feeder in case there should not be an adequate amount of fruit on the support for any reason, and on the other hand will speed up the scroll feeder in case the supply of fruit increases and the continuous column of fruit approaching the scroll becomes longer than desired.

This variation of the speed of the scroll feeder can be provided by the use of any suitable type of variable speed drive together with suitable sensors responsive to variations in the supply of fruit on the belt and support. For example, assuming that the continuous column of half spheroids approaching the scroll should be restricted to about four feet in length, a suitable sensor can be placed close to the beginning of the scroll (e.g., 2 feet) to shut down the scroll in case the column is not continuous at that point, and another sensor can be placed at a point nearly 4 feet (e.g., 3 feet) from the beginning of the scroll which will speed up the scroll in case the continuous column of fruit increases to that length.

Any desired type of sensor can be employed for these purposes such as paddle-operated microswitches, electric eyes, capacitance probes, and the like. However, provision must be made so that these sensors do not respond to the passage of a single half spheroid, or even to the passage of a unit of two or three half spheroids, in view of the fact that there may be undesirable gaps between successive such units. Accordingly, it is desirable for the sensors to have incorporated in them a time delay factor sufficient to bridge such gaps; the sensors are then activated only by the passage of a continuous column comprising at least three or four half spheroids.

The sensor nearest the scroll can then be used to energize the scroll drive only when a continuous column of the designed minimum length exists at the beginning of the scroll and to de-energize the drive at any time when for any reason this minimum length of column does not exist. When so energized, however, the drive rotates the scroll at a reduced speed sufficiently less than that of the belt that half spheroids tend to accumulate in front of the scroll and the length of the continuous column increases until it extends to and activates the remote sensor. The result is to increase the speed of rotation of the scroll by the variable speed drive and again reduce the length of the continuous column. As long as the near sensor remains activated, the remote sensor will continue to cycle the scroll speed between the high and low values according to the amount of fruit supplied to the belt.

Alternatively, it has been found that satisfactory results can be obtained by operating the scroll drive continuously at a constant speed slightly faster than the belt speed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it is to be understood that said drawings are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be taken as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims for this purpose. In said drawings FIG. 1 is a side view, partly in section and partly diagrammatic, of a preferred form of apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial view of the left-hand end of the apparatus of FIG. 1 looking to the left from the line 3-3, some parts having been omitted;

FIG. 4 shows a special form of slicing knife that may be employed when desired; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT For purposes of description, it is assumed that the half spheroids are of the type produced by longitudinal splitting of contour-peeled pineapples of the type produced by the de Back machine of US. Pat. No. 3,382,900. Normally, these half spheroids will be approximately 6-7 inches in length, and FIG. 1 shows a series of such half spheroids l in dot and dash lines, these being aligned end-to-end to 'form a column and also being in end-to-end abutment. These half spheroids, produced in a manner already stated, are fed in any suitable manner to a feed belt 2 rotating around and driven by a suitable pulley 3 and drive shaft 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the belt 2 is provided with a raised longitudinally extending rib or guide 5 which engages in the grooves 6 of the half spheroids. As explained above, these grooves result from the coring of the whole pineapples in previous processing, half of each core groove being left in the flat face of the half spheroid that is formed by splitting the whole fruit through the center line of the core hole. From the splitting operation, the half spheroids are fed to the belt one by one with some distance between their ends, normally only a fraction of a fruit length.

As they approach the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, riding on the belt 2, these half spheroids are advanced from the end of the belt as it begins to turn down around the pulley 3 onto a stationary support 7 which, in cross sectional shape, is substantially the same as the belt shown in FIG. 2. This support is provided with a longitudinal guide or rib 8 corresponding to and forming a continuation of rib 5 on the belt.

As the column of half spheroids approaches the slicing and chunking apparatus hereinafter described, they are engaged by a segmenting unit in the form of a plurality of disc knives 20 positioned above the table 7 and rotating about angularly disposed axes which, as indicated in FIG. 5, lie in a common plane transverse to the table so that the knives rotate in planes which extend radially with respect to the half spheroids. The segmenting knives 20 are so located that they do not cut entirely through the fruit to the core hole, but leave a small amount of unsegmented core material immediately adjacent the guide rib 8 of supporting table 7. However, the segmenting knives penetrate the half spheroids sufficiently so that the subsequent recoring operation will sever the segments from the ring of material adjacent to the core hole that holds the pieces together through the slicing operation next to be described.

After leaving the segmenting means, the column of half spheroids is engaged by positive feeding means preferably in the form of a drum or cylinder 9 having a spiral blade or scroll knife 10 which cuts into the flesh of the fruit as indicated in FIG. 1. However, by reference to FIG. 3, it will be seen that the axis of rotation of the scroll 10 is located not only above the fruit as shown in FIG. 1, but also somewhat to one side of the support 7. The extreme arcs of the cuts made in the fruit by the scroll 10 therefore do not reach the core material surrounding and close to the core hole. The leading edge of the scroll 10 which first cuts into the fruit may be provided with a short circumferential section 11 of greater radial extent than the rest of the scroll so as to make an initial overcut which reduces the lateral force imparted to the fruit by the scroll. The advancing column of half spheroids is additionally stabilized against lateral force by a stabilizing knife 12 which, as shown in FIG. 3, extends radially inwardly from a support frame 39 adjacent to the fruit clearance path and above the stationary support 7. Stabilizing knife 12 is aligned with one of the segmenting knives 20 (compare FIGS. 3 and 5) so as not to produce an unwanted cut in the half spheroids.

It will be understood that the cylinder 9 and its scroll 10 can be mounted and driven in any desired manner. As shown, the cylinder is secured on a drive shaft 13 by means of suitable nut 14, and a drive pulley 15 on the other end of the shaft provides for rotation of the scroll 10 as hereinafter described.

As the half spheroids advance in column beyond the scroll, they reach a point 16 at which the supporting table 7 and its guide 8 terminate to permit the passage through the pineapple flesh of a suitable knife 17 or other slicing device. Beyond the interruption or gap 16, the table 7 is continued at 18, so that while the column of advancing half spheroids is sliced through by the knife 17 at suitable intervals, nevertheless, the slices continue to advance on the table continuation 18 substantially as a continuous column of fruit. Moreover, the gap 16 is small enough that the leading edge of the unsliced fruit reaches and is supported by the table continuation 18 before the knife makes it next cut.

In case recoring is desirablefor reasons already explained, the table continuation 18 is not provided with a raised guide 8, but has instead an appropriate cutout in which is positioned a tubular recorer 21 having its axis in alignment with the axis of the half core holes in the fruit and also of the guide rib 8 on the support 7. This tubular recorer 21 presents a circular cutting edge 22 to the advancing half slices of fruit as they begin to move over the support 18, with the result that undesirable material forming part of the core of the fruit but not removed by the initial coring operation will be removed and will pass into and through the tubular recorer as shown at 23. Preferably, and as shown in FIG. 1, the cutting edge 22 of the recorer is positioned approximately one-sixteenth inch back of the gap 16, and is protected from the pass of slicing knife '17 by table continuation l8 and a complementary arcuate shield 19.

The segmented slices, still in assembled form, continue to advance above and around the tubular recorer, being held against rotation and against falling apart until the rear or trailing face of each slice passes the cutting edge 22 of the recorer. When this occurs, however, the final segments or chunks separate and fall as shown at 24. A separating baffle 25 may be employed to keep the pieces 23 of recored material separate from the chunks 24.

The recorer 21 can be mounted and driven in any desired manner. As shown somewhat diagrammatically, the recorer tube 21 is mounted in a ring 26 which in turn is rigidly connected by a mating plate 26a and rods 27 with a ring 28 secured on a rotating drive shaft 29. The use of this arrangement provides for open spaces between the rods 27 through which the pieces 23 can pass to discharge.

The thickness of the slices cut by the knife 17 can be varied, depending on the speed of forward movement of the column of half spheroids, and the speed of rotation of the knife 17. Preferably the knife is mounted on the shaft 13 and rotated with the scroll 10, making slices which have a thickness equal to the pitch of the scroll. The knife is preferably arranged so that it slices through the advancing pineapple in the cuts already partially made by the scroll itself. Obviously the speed of rotation of the knife can be varied if desired so as to make either thinner or thicker slices, although such variations would require mounting the knife separately from the scroll and driving it in some other suitable way. It is also possible to vary the thickness of the slices without such special knife mount, by the use of knife members having more than one blade. For example, FIG. 4 shows a knife member 30 arranged for mounting on the shaft 13 in the same way as the knife 17, but having two diametrically opposite blades 31 and 32 that are apart. It will be seen that one rotation of this knife 30 makes two slicing cuts through the pineapple with the result that the slices are only half as thick as they are when the single knife 17 is employed.

It has been found desirable in practice to so operate the apparatus above described that the half spheroids are in actual end-to-end abutment so as to form a continuous column of fruit. They tend to assume and maintain this relationship due to the frictional force exerted by the moving belt 2, and this desirable condition can be insured by adjusting the rate of positive advance of the half spheroids by the scroll 10 so as to be just slightly less than the rate of forward movement of the feed belt 2. Thus the half spheroids tend to pile up against one another at the entrance to the scroll and to maintain a continuous column of fruit at and before this point.

It has also been found, however, that if the column of fruit extends too far from the scroll, there may be a tendency toward buckling the column.

In order to maintain continuity at the scroll entrance and at the same time to avoid buckling and excessive column length, FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically a variable speed drive 33 for the drive belt 34 of the scroll, the driving connection being indicated diagrammatically at 35. While various arrangements can be employed for regulating the scroll speed, an arrangement which has worked well in practice comprises two sensors 36 and 37 with connections 38 to the variable speed drive unit 33. As already stated, these sensors can be of any desired type except that they should have a built-in time delay factor so that they are actuated to activate the drive only when a unit of, say, three or four half spheroids moves past either sensor within the builtin time delay period. When this condition exists at the sensor 36 and the sensor is actuated continuously for the full length of the time delay, then the variable speed drive is activated to drive the scroll at its lower speed. At any moment when fruit does not arrive at a sufficient rate to maintain the actuation of sensor 36, however, the sensor operates to deactivate the variable speed drive and to stop the scroll.

On the other hand, as the column builds up in length away from the scroll, that time may come when the sensor 37 is continuously actuated for the full time delay period. This sensor being located at the point beyond which the column should not be permitted to extend, the actuation of this sensor 37 will increase the speed at which the variable speed drive unit 33 rotates the scroll 10. Accordingly, the speed of advance of the leading end of the column of fruit is increased to prevent further build-up in length of the column, and usually to cause its length to decrease. If this occurs and sensor 37 becomes de-actuated, the scroll drive will decrease to its lower speed again.

It will be seen that apparatus embodying the invention, as illustrated by the above described preferred embodiment, is relatively simple and inexpensive in construction and that it operates automatically as long as there is an adequate supply of fruit to produce high quality chunks, tidbits, or the like. By the automatic drive controls, provision is made so that whenever the supply of fruit is inadequate or fails entirely for any reason, the operation of the units will be discontinued. It will be understood that, if desired, the drive to the belt 2 can be stopped at the same time as the drive to the scroll 10 is stopped, although usually automatic control of the belt in this way will not be necessary. It should also be noted that the live knife segmenting means can be located between the slicing knife and the recorer unit without any substantial loss in performance and quality of production. These and other variations of the invention will now be apparent to those skilled in this art.

l claim:

1. Apparatus for making pineapple chunks from cored and peeled pineapples halved longitudinally through the center lines of the core holes, thereby producing half spheroids having flat faces with longitudinal grooves formed by the remaining halves of the core holes, said apparatus comprising stationary means for supporting a column of said half spheroids arranged end-to-end on said supporting means, flat face down, guide means for said column extending ridge-like along said supporting means for guiding engagement with the aligned grooves in said flat faces, segmenting means including a plurality of rotatable knives arranged to cut. into said half spheroids in planes extending radially with respect to said guide means, slicing means located at the forward end of said stationary supporting means for cutting transversely through the half spheroid at the advancing end of said column, means for moving said column ahead toward said segmenting means and said slicing means with at least the leading half spheroids in end-to-end abutment on said supporting means, and feeding means adjacent and offset laterally from the forward end of said column for engaging and feeding said abutting half spheroids to the slicing point, said feeding means comprising a rotating feeder unit having a spiral knife edge the convolutions of which cut into the leading half spheroid of the advancing column above and at one side of the guide means, said knife edge positively moving said leading half spheroid ahead to said slicing means.

2. Apparatus for making pineapple chunks from cored and peeled pineapples halved longitudinally through the center lines of the core holes, thereby producing half spheroids having flat faces with longitudinal grooves formedby the remaining halves of the core holes, said apparatus comprising stationary means for supporting a column of said half spheroids arranged end-to-end on said supporting means, flat face down, guide means for said column extending ridge-like along said supporting means for guiding engagement with the aligned grooves in said flat faces, segmenting means including a plurality of rotatable knives positioned above said supporting means and adapted to rotate about angularly disposed axes which lie in a common plane transverse to said supporting means, said knives being so located as to leave a small amount of unsegmented core material immediately adjacent said guide means, slicing means located at the forward end of said stationary supporting means for cutting transversely through the half spheroid at the advancing end of said column, means for moving said column ahead toward said segmenting means and said slicing means with at least the leading half spheroids in end-to-end abutment onsaid supporting means, feeding means adjacent and offset laterally from the forward end of said column for engaging and feeding said abutting half spheroids to the slicing point, and recoring means comprising a tubular rotating cutter having a circular cutting edge disposed adjacent said slicing means with its axis of rotation aligned with the axis of the grooves in said half spheroids and adapted to cut into said half spheroids after slicing and to enlarge the diameter of said grooves throughout their lengths by removing the unsegmented core material.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including a continuation of said supporting means separated therefrom by a gap in which said slicing means operates, the width of said gap in proportion to the speed of advance of the half spheroids being such that the forward end of the half spheroid column bridges the gap before each slicing operation takes place.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for moving said column ahead includes a movable support for conveying half spheroids to said stationary supporting means, said movable support having guide means for engagement with said grooves aligned with the guide means of said supporting means.

zg gyl UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION 3, 799,050 C Dated March 26, 1974 Patent No.

h'wentofls) Douglas R. McLane It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

[- Cover page, item 73, "Hydril Company, Harris County, Tex. "'3

I'd read --Cas'tle & Cooke, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii--.

Signed and sealed this 8th day of October 1974.

shou

(SEAL) Attest:

c. MARSHALL DANN MCCOY M. GIBSON JR.

Commissioner of Patents Attestmg Officer 

1. Apparatus for making pineapple chunks from cored and peeled pineapples halved longitudinally through the center lines of the core holes, thereby producing half spheroids having flat faces with longitudinal grooves formed by the remaining halves of the core holes, said apparatus comprising stationary means for supporting a column of said half spheroids arranged end-to-end on said supporting means, flat face down, guide means for said column extending ridge-like along said supporting means for guiding engagement with the aligned grooves in said flat faces, segmenting means including a plurality of rotatable knives arranged to cut into said half spheroids in planes extending radially with respect to said guide means, slicing means located at the forward end of said stationary supporting means for cutting transversely through the half spheroid at the advancing end of said column, means for moving said column ahead toward said segmenting means and said slicing means with at least the leading half spheroids in end-to-end abutment on said supporting means, and feeding means adjacent and offset laterally from the forward end of said column for engaging and feeding said abutting half spheroids to the slicing point, said feeding means comprising a rotating feeder unit having a spiral knife edge the convolutions of which cut into the leading half spheroid of the advancing column above and at one side of the guide means, said knife edge positively moving said leading half spheroid ahead to said slicing means.
 2. Apparatus for making pineapple chunks from cored and peeled pineapples halved longitudinally through the center lines of the core holes, thereby producing half spheroids having flat faces with longitudinal grooves formed by the remaining halves of the core holes, said apparatus comprising stationary means for supporting a column of said half spheroids arranged end-to-end on said supporting means, flat face down, guide means for said column extending ridge-like along said supporting means for guiding engagement with the aligned grooves in said flat faces, segmenting means including a plurality of rotatable knives positioned above said supporting means and adapted to rotate about angularly disposed axes which lie in a common plane transverse to said supporting means, said knives being so located as to leave a small amount of unsegmented core material immediately adjacent said guide means, slicing means located at the forward end of said stationary supporting means for cutting transversely through the half spheroid at the advancing end of said column, means for moving said column ahead toward said segmenting means and said slicing means with at least the leading half spheroids in end-to-end abutment on said supporting means, feeding means adjacent and offset laterally from the forward end of said column for engaging and feeding said abutting half spheroids to the slicing point, and recoring means comprising a tubular rotating cutter having a circular cutting edge disposed adjacent said slicing means with its axis of rotation aligned with the axis of the grooves in said halF spheroids and adapted to cut into said half spheroids after slicing and to enlarge the diameter of said grooves throughout their lengths by removing the unsegmented core material.
 3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including a continuation of said supporting means separated therefrom by a gap in which said slicing means operates, the width of said gap in proportion to the speed of advance of the half spheroids being such that the forward end of the half spheroid column bridges the gap before each slicing operation takes place.
 4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for moving said column ahead includes a movable support for conveying half spheroids to said stationary supporting means, said movable support having guide means for engagement with said grooves aligned with the guide means of said supporting means. 